Give growth and macroeconomic stability in Russia a chance - harden budgets by eliminating nonpayments

The authors analyze the links between Russia's disappointing growth performance in the second half of the 1990s, its costly and unsuccessful stabilization, the macroeconomic meltdown of 1998, and the spectacular rise of non-payments. Non-payments flourished in an environment of fundamental inconsistency between a macroeconomic policy geared at sharp disinflation, and a microeconomic policy of bailing enterprises out through soft budget constraints. Heavy untargeted implicit subsidies flowing through the non-payments system (amounting to 10 percent of GDP annually) have stifled growth, contributed to the August 1998 meltdown, through their impact on public debt, and have made at best a questionable contribution to equity. Dismantling this system must be a top priority, along with promoting enterprise restructuring and growth (by hardening budget constraints) and medium-term macroeconomic stability (by reducing the size of subsidies). Getting the government out of the non-payments system means settling all appropriately controlled budgetary expenditures on time, and in cash, and eschewing spending arrears, thereby setting an example for enterprises, and laying the groundwork for eliminating tax offsets at all levels of government, and insisting on cash tax payments. To stop energy-related subsidies, would require not only that the government pay its own energy bills on time, and in cash, but also that the energy monopolies be empowered to disconnect non-paying clients. This will enable the government to insist that the energy monopolies in turn pay their own taxes in full, and on time.Banks&Banking Reform,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Municipal Financial Management,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research

Electron-Positron Production in Ultra-Peripheral Heavy-Ion Collisions with the STAR Experiment

This thesis presents a measurement of the cross-section of the purely electromagnetic production of $e^+e^-$ pairs accompanied by mutual nuclear Coulomb excitation $AuAu\to Au^*Au^*+e^+e^-$, in ultra-peripheral gold-gold collisions at RHIC at the center-of-mass collision energy of $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV per nucleon. These reactions were selected by detecting neutron emission by the excited gold ions in the Zero Degree Calorimeters. The charged tracks in the $e^+e^-$ events were reconstructed with the STAR Time Projection Chamber. The detector acceptance limits the kinematical range of the observed $e^+e^-$ pairs; therefore the measured cross-section is extrapolated to $4\pi$ with the use of Monte Carlo simulations. We have developed a Monte Carlo simulation for ultra-peripheral $e^+e^-$ production at RHIC based on the Equivalent Photon Approximation, the lowest-order QED $e^+e^-$ production cross-section by two real photons and the assumption that the mutual nuclear excitations and the \ee production are independent (EPA model). %We present cross-section predictions from this model in various kinematic regions. We compare our experimental results to two models: the EPA model and a model based on full QED calculation of the \ee production, taking the photon virtuality into account. The measured differential cross-section $d\sigma /dM_{inv}$ ($M_{inv}$ -- $e^+e^-$ invariant mass) agrees well with both theoretical models. The measured differential cross-section $d\sigma /dp_{\perp}^{tot}$ ($p_{\perp}^{tot}$ -- $e^+e^-$ total transverse momentum) favors the full QED calculation over the EPA model.Comment: UC Berkeley PhD dissertation 96 page

Analitic Investigation of the Regularities of Changing Dust Concentration During the Abrasive Decrease of Stone Structures

In the process of repair or restoration of building structures, it is often necessary to strengthen building structures from limestone-shell rock, concrete, reinforced concrete, hard materials-granite, basalt, etc. by cutting or making cuts of the required size with detachable circles of synthetic diamond and cubic boron nitride (CA and CBN)The cutting process is accompanied by considerable dust formation, which can be both harmful and dangerous factor in the work.The aim of the work is studying the process of dust sedimentation and the regularity of the change in dust concentration during the abrasive cutting of concrete and stone materials.Mathematical models have been developed – dust emission from under the wheel, speed of sedimentation of dust particles depending on their material, size and shape, and also depending on temperature, pressure and humidity, the concentration of dust in the working space and the concentration change during the cutting cycle are calculated.It is shown that the velocity of the sedimentation of particles depends significantly on the shape. The higher the sphericity, the higher the sedimentation rate. The ambient temperature has little effect on the sedimentation rate, in the temperature range (-20 → + 40 °C) at which the operation takes place.The sedimentation rate of dust particles generated by cutting the most common building stone materials also differs slightly. Almost the same sedimentation rate has dust particles obtained by cutting basalt and concrete. A bit higher is the sedimentation rate of particles from granite.The sedimentation rate of particles of generated dust is about 600-700 cm/h or 10-11 cm/min for particles measuring 6 μm. This means that at a production height of about 2 m (200 cm) during the operating cycle (about 3 min), the dust will remain at an altitude of about 1.5 m, i.е. practically remains in the working area. This gives grounds to assert about a high concentration of dust during the cutting cycle (about 4.8 108/m3)

ANALITIC INVESTIGATION OF THE REGULARITIES OF CHANGING DUST CONCENTRATION DURING THE ABRASIVE DECREASE OF STONE STRUCTURES

In the process of repair or restoration of building structures, it is often necessary to strengthen building structures from limestone-shell rock, concrete, reinforced concrete, hard materials-granite, basalt, etc. by cutting or making cuts of the required size with detachable circles of synthetic diamond and cubic boron nitride (CA and CBN) The cutting process is accompanied by considerable dust formation, which can be both harmful and dangerous factor in the work. The aim of the work is studying the process of dust sedimentation and the regularity of the change in dust concentration during the abrasive cutting of concrete and stone materials. Mathematical models have been developed – dust emission from under the wheel, speed of sedimentation of dust particles depending on their material, size and shape, and also depending on temperature, pressure and humidity, the concentration of dust in the working space and the concentration change during the cutting cycle are calculated. It is shown that the velocity of the sedimentation of particles depends significantly on the shape. The higher the sphericity, the higher the sedimentation rate. The ambient temperature has little effect on the sedimentation rate, in the temperature range (-20 → + 40 °C) at which the operation takes place. The sedimentation rate of dust particles generated by cutting the most common building stone materials also differs slightly. Almost the same sedimentation rate has dust particles obtained by cutting basalt and concrete. A bit higher is the sedimentation rate of particles from granite. The sedimentation rate of particles of generated dust is about 600-700 cm/h or 10-11 cm/min for particles measuring 6 μm. This means that at a production height of about 2 m (200 cm) during the operating cycle (about 3 min), the dust will remain at an altitude of about 1.5 m, i.е. practically remains in the working area. This gives grounds to assert about a high concentration of dust during the cutting cycle (about 4.8 108/m3)

Network Diplomacy: Approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Introduction. The aim of the article is to to analyze the concept of modern network diplomacy as well as to illustrate possible solution approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the abovementioned mechanism. Network diplomacy is defined as the multi-level communication, representation, and negotiation of an idea or a set thereof through a set of actors, which may extend beyond traditional, rigid state sponsored institutions and encompass other actors integrated with the idea or parties involved. Methods and materials. The research involved a combination of analytical empirical research containing justification for case selection and qualitative research. The author mostly approaches the topic through liberal paradigm of international relations, accentuating mutual benefits of international cooperation, arguing that flexible formats of diplomacy can be an effective way to help states to interact with each other in an honest manner and support nonviolent solutions to conflicts. Analysis. The analysis is based mainly on case study research, which helped to generate the results. The article will be structured in several parts. The introduction will render an overview of the network diplomacy concept followed by a historic background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its ideological underpinnings, and so inform a set of theories as pertaining to the potency of network diplomacy in the solution process, which will be outlined in the parts following it. These theories will then be evaluated in the context of the overall environment and specific cases – NGOs as a reach out function in water management at the municipal level, academic institutions establishing communication channels independent of the larger political environment, and a short summary of European Union outreach to non-state actors as an illustrative case of state to non-state actor diplomacy. Moreover, the article includes the study of citizen diplomacy, civil society-based approaches, economically driven incentives and other cultural initiatives such as sports-based diplomacy as possible mechanisms. Results. Network diplomacy may feature a multi-pronged approach to diplomacy represented through a mixture of, for example, state actors and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Network diplomacy is particularly potent in spreading ideas as it allows engagement of a multitude of actors directly, and is subject to comparatively low transaction costs. Network diplomacy appears to be a promising approach to the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is characterized by juxtaposing ideological underpinnings in addition to issues of realpolitik, and a multitude of actors including non-state actors